


All Roads

by spikala



Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-22
Updated: 2013-10-22
Packaged: 2018-09-17 12:46:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9324209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spikala/pseuds/spikala
Summary: A story about what might've happened to Maul after Sidious beat the snot out of him on Mandalore.





	

Maul checked once more that the security eyes in the Senator's apartment were disabled. Time and injuries may've diminished some parts of him, but his care never faded. Now was no time to be sloppy. His infrared scanner showed no heat signatures and the motion detector was silent; the place was deserted. Even the pesky protocol droid had gone. One forged entry datarod later, he was inside. It was laughably easy; this was a trial run no doubt, a simple mission to show that he was still competent.

He made his way over to the refresher and activated his handheld comlink.

"I'm inside."

His former master's voice oozed from the comlink. "Good. There will be a blister packet of pills. Replace them with the ones you were given."

Maul hunted through the drawers until he found a packet that matched the one in his belt pocket. Swiftly he switched them. "It is done."

"Activate the device and conceal it in the Senator's bedchamber."

Maul frowned, pulling the small grey sphere from his belt. "What is it?"

An explosion of agony in his brain rewarded his curiosity. The pain surged, ripping through his body like lightning, then cut off. Maul found himself doubled over on the plush carpet, gripping his both sides of his head. The sphere was lying on the ground beside him though he didn't remember letting go of it.

"Forgive me, my lord," he gasped out, playing up his terror when in reality his rage was close to simmering over. "I simply meant that if I knew its purpose, I could better position it."

There was a pause as the other man contemplated his request, and Maul used that time to curse Sidious to the nine hells of Corellia. Were it not for the damned chip that Sidious had put in his brainstem, Maul would've run as soon as he'd woken up on in a dilapidated room on Coruscant. His venomous thoughts were interrupted by the crackle of the comlink.

"It is a short-range jammer. If the Senator uses an implant as well as her contraceptive pills, this will render it useless."

Short-range jammers had a radius of about two meters, he would have to hide it close by. Darth Sidious seemed very determined that this particular Senator should fall pregnant. Maul wondered briefly why she was important, then shrugged. What did he care? He strode into the bedroom and cast about for a suitable hiding place for the jammer. He scooted under the bed, hollowing out a small cavity underneath the mattress with the rudimentary knife he'd been given for this task. It was too bad he didn't have a jammer for the damned chip—

Maul froze. Would Sidious have sent him out here with a device that might free him from the Sith Lord's grasp? Or was it just a cunning ploy to break him down and humiliate him further? If this worked, he would be free. If it was another trap, then having his brain explode inside his skull would be the best outcome he could hope for. The last few weeks had illustrated graphically how much pain and abuse a body could take. Only the thought of Savage and revenge had kept him going.

Before he could hesitate, Maul grabbed the sphere and twisted. A tiny red light appeared at the top; it was working. He looked down at the comlink—it was silent. He waited for the rush of pain, but nothing came. Was it working?

It was only after he'd checked his scanner and found it was as silent as the comlink that Maul began to believe his luck. The jammer was working. He was free. Free to get his revenge on his former master. He knew just what to do too. He would reveal Darth Sidious's real identity to the galaxy, then sit back and laugh as the Jedi moved in to do the dirty work for him.

* * *

Ventress watched as vehicles covered in sirens flashed past them in the opposite direction, heading for the prison. _Wrong way, boys_. None of the police speeders bothered to check the flyers they zoomed past, and in any case she was safe inside the covered back of the speeder. Her silent chauffeur didn't flinch so Ventress ignored the commotion outside and focused on prying off the Force-collar with the hydrospanner she'd used to get into the prison ventilation ducts. The driver ejected her outside a grimy looking apartment in Coruscant's lower levels.

The door of the building slid open as she approached, so Ventress took the hint and went in, keeping an eye out on her surroundings. It wouldn't be the first time that she'd been double-crossed, but she had no intention of making it easy for them; whoever 'they' were. Graffiti lined the walls of the narrow corridor, and up ahead she noticed insects skittering away into the black. The place was either uninhabited or the residents had no concept of hygiene. As she rounded the first corner warily, a door to her left slid open revealing the dusty sitting room of an apartment. Unlike the corridor lights which were dim and flickering, the lights inside the apartment were strong and warm.

As she entered, the door slid shut behind her. Not for the first time, Ventress wished for her lightsabers, but they'd been taken from her when she was arrested. A shadow detached itself from a doorway. As it entered the light, Ventress felt her eyes narrow.

"You."

The bounty hunter brat nodded at her, his eyes cold. "Take a seat."

"Whatever you're selling, I'm not interested." She turned to go, but the door stayed firmly shut.

He didn't seem at all deterred by her icy tones, crossing his arms over his chest. "I have a job for you," he said. "Do it and I'll see that you get your lightsabers back."

His cocksure tone made her want to take him down a peg. "Listen boy, you don't seem to have learned from our last encounter. Now you may've helped me escape, but I owe you _nothing_. Now open the door."

"Does the name 'Maul' mean anything to you?"

She paused, her anger at this pint-sized human fizzling away. She didn't want to reveal too much, but she could see it in his eyes; he knew he had her attention. "And what if it does?" she said as nonchalantly as she could.

"Black Suns, Hutt Grand Council, Death Watch, the Pykes, _and_ the Jedi have a bounty out on this guy. He's been quiet for months, but then someone notified them all that he was spotted on Coruscant."

Despite herself, Ventress's eyebrows arched in interest. "That is a lot of powerful people to have annoyed, and a lot of bounty hunters interested in him. So what do you want me for?"

Boba's brow furrowed. Ventress knew that look of anger and loathing. "He's a saber jockey. My dad taught me you should never try and take on one of them without a plan. You fought with lightsabers and used Jedi powers on Quarzite; if we work together we've a chance of taking him down."

"I'm _not_ Jedi," she spat. "And why shouldn't I just take him in myself and collect the bounty?" In the past, she'd force-choked him and stuffed him into a trunk for his troubles. That he was willing to come to her for help showed either an interesting lack of ego, or just plain pigheadedness.

He grinned at her with all the mirth of the striking predator. "Because I don't think Asajj Ventress can just stroll up to the Jedi Council or the Hutts and turn him over for the reward. But I can. If you help me with this, we split the profits fifty-fifty and you get your lightsabers back."

It was a good deal. The challenge to pit herself against her former master's predecessor was almost irresistible. Still, she had to check just one last thing. "Do they want him alive or dead?"

"Alive."

She grimaced. "That isn't going to happen."

He stood his ground. "I gave my word that we would take him alive. Besides, given how angry our clients are, I doubt he'll be alive for long."

Boba's grin deepened and she knew she had a similar smile on her face. The hunt was on.

* * *

Getting proof of Sidious's identity was proving more difficult than Maul had anticipated.

All the old hideouts on Coruscant that his old master had used were empty. There wasn't so much as a black thread to show that two Sith Lords had walked this area, intent on overthrowing the Republic. All he knew was that his former master was wealthy and well-connected, and that he was a human—or at least the lower part of his face looked human. Not much to go off.

Maul was also unarmed and it was starting to irritate him. No Sith should be without a lightsaber, it smacked of his time on that garbage hole of a planet. No, he needed to build himself a weapon and that meant finding a furnace so that he could forge the crystal. He'd assembled most of the pieces he needed, but the final part of the furnace was proving elusive. He was going nowhere fast.

In a fit of frustration, he slammed his fists down onto the countertop. Disturbed by the sudden movement, the jammer popped free from his belt. It hit the ground and rolled away even as he grabbed desperately for it. He dived on it, bringing it to a halt as his heart thudded in his chest. Two meters. That was all the room he had to play with. He had no doubt that Sidious was broadcasting the kill code even now, if anything should happen to the jammer…

No, that wasn't a productive use of his time. He was dwelling on everything that had gone wrong, rather than focusing on the solution. The corners of his mouth crept upwards. How deliciously ironic that his old master's training would be used to defeat him. Maul secured the troublesome sphere to his belt —firmly this time— and went over to pour himself a cup of caf from a thermos he'd liberated on an earlier 'shopping trip'. The aroma almost blocked out the damp, musty smell of the place. Almost.

He looked around his hovel of a home. It was unbelievable how far he'd fallen in such a short time. From the presidential palace of Mandalore, to Sidious's lair, to this. Falling ever downwards, and reduced to petty theft in order to survive. His rage swelled as he thought of all the people who had thwarted his plans and brought him to this. Even the look on Kenobi's face when he'd killed that Duchess couldn't appease his anger. He'd gotten Kenobi back though, and he would do the same to Sidious.

He had one last lead to his former master that he'd avoided using until now, unwilling to risk bringing in an outside party. He would do it if he must though. For Savage, for revenge, for his brother. Quaffing the last of his caf, he stuffed the scanner and comlink that Sidious gave him into a bag and headed out the door.

* * *

"So can you trace the signal or not?" Maul growled.

The weasly looking Patrolian wiped his nose on his sleeve and grunted. "Depends."

Maul was getting sick of monosyllabic replies. "On what?"

Orsum Churr must've picked up on the threat in his voice, because his next reply was slightly more elaborate. "Credits. And if your signal is coming from an area full of jammers, ain't nobody can trace that."

Maul withdrew a credit chit from his bag, holding it so that the pathetic creature in front of him could see its denomination, before he put it on the high counter that separated them. The slicer reached for it, but Maul flicked open the knife Sidious had given him for his last mission, holding Churr's eyes with his own. "You'll get it when you're done."

To his credit, the slicer didn't seem worried about the sudden appearance of a weapon or the thinly veiled threats. Instead, he tapped the blaster that was lying to one side. "T'aint no need to be doin' that. I'll trace it for ya." He connected a lead from his datapad to the comlink that Maul had provided and started tapping away.

"So I can see," Maul said.

Churr shrugged and connected another lead from the datapad to the monitor that was on the counter in front of Maul. Maul hastily put some distance between him and the electronics; he was quickly learning that living with a jammer could be right pain, it was just as well his cybernetics weren't affected. The screen flickered to life, displaying a copy of what was on Churr's datapad. Windows sprang to life then vanished, text scrolling across the screen as Churr got to work.

"Trace," the slicer gurgled.

A grid sprang up on the screen in front of Maul, the viewpoint falling continually inwards in a way that made his head spin. Then he realised what he was seeing; it was a map of Coruscant and Orsum Churr was homing in on the comlink signal. Down and down they went, until the slicer had brought them almost on top of the Senate District.

"You got friends in high places."

Maul ignored him. Somewhere in this labyrinth of permacrete and glass was Lord Sidious. Oh, it would be too sweet if his old master was a Senator. He could just imagine the outcry that the Jedi would raise, and meanwhile, he would quietly slip off planet and start rebuilding the Sith Order. There could only be two Sith Lords, and Maul was an apprentice no more.

"Senate."

Churr's voice snapped Maul out of his pleasant daydream. "What do you mean?"

The slicer rolled his fishy eyes. "Whats I'z said — signal, Senate."

He reached for the credit chit and Maul let him have it, turning things over in his mind as he left the cramped shop.

The crowd parted for him as he made his way through the streets away from the 'crowded' part of town. He only half-noticed the other passers-by as he went, lost in his thoughts. The Senate was notorious for having a jamming system. Only authorised signals went in and out of there. For Sidious's comlink to be able to work in the middle of all the security systems, indicated he was a major player. What high-ranking Senate officials did Maul know that were human, male, and fit Sidious's general physique?

Then he realised who the Sith Lord had to be. There was only one candidate. All he had to do now was contact the Jedi.

"We meet again."

Maul spun, searching for the owner of that snide voice. The street was deserted. Then he saw her in the shadows at the other end of the dingy alley. "Ventress," he growled.

"Glad to see you remembered me."

Oh he remembered. He remembered how this bald witch had interfered and cost him a swift victory over Kenobi. If she had not been there, Kenobi would be dead and Savage would still be alive. But things were falling neatly into place. He knew his old master's identity now—how the Jedi were going to flap over that one—and now Fate had led him into someone else who he a debt to settle with.

He waited for her to draw her lightsabers; it was going to be a tough fight, all he had was the paltry knife Sidious had given him. But she didn't. His eyes fell to her belt and instead of two shiny lightsaber hilts, she had a holster and a pistol. A slow grin spread across his face. Blaster bolts from a single shooter were easily avoided when he had the Force as his ally. Slowly, keeping eye contact with her, he drew his knife and charged.

She wasn't slow. She had that pistol out instantly, peppering him with a shower of stun bolts. Maul listened to the Force though, whipping and dodging around each and every bolt. So, she meant to take him alive. He would not show the same courtesy. She was only ten meters away when the Force screamed in his ear. Maul wrenched himself upwards, somersaulting in the air to avoid a maelstrom of fire from a new direction.

He landed, one foot skidding a bit on a greasy slick. Two spikes of _anticipation_ arced into the Force; he was dealing with two organics then. A tad more difficult than just one, but not by much. The second shooter was perched up on the awning of a closed down electronics shop. If he thought that would keep him safe, he was sorely mistaken and Maul intended to show him the error of his ways. One did not simply shoot down a lord of the Sith.

He would take out the weaker opponent first; less distraction for when he later killed Ventress. He charged across the open, easily avoiding the blaster fire, his eyes on his target. The diminutive hunter didn't seem fazed even though Maul could smell the fear on him, instead his target pressed a button on his wrist and all hell broke loose.

The air around him was suddenly thick with blue stun fire from the previously unnoticed remotes scattered over the ground. Maul dove deep into the Dark Side, trusting it to keep him safe as he ducked and wove. There was a tingling in the tips of his fingers as a stunner round brushed his left hand, electronics on his foot sparked as they were disrupted. He felt a numbness in his hip where another round grazed him as he twisted in the air. He looked down, but there was no comforting red light winking back at him.

* * *

"What did you do?" Boba screamed at her. "We needed him alive!"

Ventress wiped away a gobbet of flesh from her cheek. Their bounty was now missing a head; alive was no longer an option. Boba's earlier professionalism had once again evaporated – what could you expect from a brat. "His head exploded," she said. "How is that my fault when all you gave me was a stun pistol?"

She went over to Maul's lifeless corpse and started investigating his effects. He had a knife, a battered comlink, and a broken jammer clipped to his hip. No credits, but DNA analysis would verify Maul's identify to the authorities when they found it. She turned to Boba, who looked pale. "This is the point where you hand over my lightsabers, boy."

He hesitated and she had her answer. "I guess your word isn't worth the breath you spend on it," she remarked, getting a smidge of satisfaction out of the anger that flared in his eyes.

She turned to go. The brat would have problems of his own having guaranteed an alive bounty to the crime syndicates, and she didn't mean to be here when he got his come-uppance.

* * *

CODA:

Meeting concluded, Mace Windu and Obi-Wan Kenobi stood up to leave his office. Palpatine smiled genially as they exited, just as the Chancellor of the Republic should after being told of the death of a dangerous individual. A threat to the Republic has been eliminated? Oh, how wonderful! The door closed and he sniffed disdainfully.

It had worked out perfectly. Maul was tested and found wanting, yet despite his failure the mission had succeeded – Senator Amidala would eventually fall pregnant, pushing young Skywalker into a confrontation with the self-righteous Jedi Council. Maul had been eliminated and, by his death, had lulled the Jedi into a sense of security and complacency. No doubt his former apprentice had been plotting against him; that threat was now gone. And all thanks to the predictability of crime syndicates to hold grudges, and predilection of bounty hunters to chase the credits with no questions asked.

All roads led back to the grand design that he had laid out. Lord Sidious smiled. Everything was going according to plan.

**Author's Note:**

> Written as a challenge fic for the Evil Masterminds challenge. The two tropes I wanted to include here were Evil Vs Evil (Maul and Palpatine) and Unwitting Instigators of Doom (Ventress and Boba).


End file.
